Over three days in January, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) released twenty wolves in Pitkin and Eagle counties. This is the second round in an effort to reestablish wolves to the state – a voter approved mandate that CPW had to meet by December of last year. 

Some of the wolves – seven males and eight females – came from British Columbia, according to The Colorado Sun. Wolves prey on the dwindling caribou herd there, which makes the capture and relocation beneficial to both Colorado and British Columbia. That process began on Jan. 10, following the denial of a rancher-led petition to pause the state’s reintroduction program.

Along with the British Columbia wolves, five members of the Copper Creek pack were also re-released at the same time. Members of this pack were captured and relocated back in August following continual livestock depredation. CPW’s decision to re-release the Copper Creek wolves involved “multiple factors, including the health of the animals, the timing of the B.C. releases this year, and the potential proximity to the new wolves,” according to The Colorado Sun.

“As I said at the time, options in the case of the Copper Creek pack were very limited, and this action is by no means a precedent for how CPW will resolve wolf-livestock conflict moving forward,” said CPW Director Jeff Davis. “The male adult wolf was involved in multiple depredations. Removing the male at that time, while he was the sole source of food and the female was denning, would likely have been fatal to the pups and counter to the restoration mandate.”

All wolves were outfitted with GPS tracking collars prior to release.